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From: lilandbr@scn.org (Leland Bryant Ross)
Subject: Re: Gaijin vs -san  (was Re: If you hate ... )
Message-ID: <E6Jv8v.8JH@scn.org>
Sender: news@scn.org
Reply-To: lilandbr@scn.org (Leland Bryant Ross)
Organization: Seattle Community Network
References: <3319ACE0.773A@flash.net> <3315E32B.79AB@ix.netcom.com> <3316BA11.2781@iisc.com> <33179391.3CC0@spam.diet> <rte-2802971805350001@135.25.40.118> <5farp3$4td@chronicle.concentric.net>
Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 03:05:19 GMT
Lines: 62


In a previous article, inmark@flash.net ("Ronald D. Cuthbertson") says:

>
>H Andrew Chuang wrote:
>> 
>> In article <rte-2802971805350001@135.25.40.118>,
>> Ralph T. Edwards <rte@elmo.lz.att.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >. . .  Among many people over a certain age, Asian and Oriental are
>> >virtal synonyms, neither is pe<r>jorative.  

	What about "Asiatic", which I've seen in posts on sci.lang in
	contexts where I'm *sure* no pejoration was intended.

>> I don't think the term "Oriental" is pejorative; it's politcally
>> incorrect because it's an Euro-centric term.  (A question for a.u.e.
>> regulars: why is it "a" U-turn but "an" European?)  

	I'm not an a.u.e. regular, but I've never run into a variety of
	English where that was the case.  In my experience it's either
		a U-turn	and	a European
	or	an U-turn	and	an European
	and in my own idiolect it's the former.

>> Personally, I
>> hate the US usage of Asian which is often misused to refer to people
>> of East Asian origin only.  People from India, Iran, etc. are Asians,
>> too.  

	Odd that in the ivory tower "Orientalists" are usually people
	who study the ancient cultures of an area of which Iran is usually
	about the *easternmost* part...

>>You, Westerners, sometimes refer to yourselves as Westerners
>> (and we call you guys Westerners), thus, I personally don't have any
>> problem with the term "Oriental".

	Occidental, on the other hand, is an oil company, and an IAL (no
	idea if one is subsidiary to the other).

>> To get off the subject a little bit: being politically correct is a
>> "trendy" thing in the US.  Yet, people in the US use one of the most
>> politically incorrect terms everyday---American.  Canadians, Brazilians,
>> Mexicans, etc., are Americans, too.  Don't you agree?

>If you can refer to people from the United States of Mexico as Mexicans
>then it is proper to refer to people from the United States of America as
>Americans.

Proper, perhaps, but much more ambiguous, in that there is no continent 
trying to pass as Mexico, while *two* continents are trying to 
impersonate the US.  (However, the nominal identity of the EE UU 
Mexicanos and its capital [DF] may make a parallel though smaller 
ambiguity available.  (I'm writing this from Seattle in "the *other* 
Washington".)
--
Liland Brajant ROS'        Juvat me nubes labentes spectare
P O Box 30091              Et cherubim in caelo cogitare;
Seattle, WA 98103 Usono    Cum cherubim cogitantur a me,
Tel. (206) 633-2434  	   Nescio utrum sint hi aut hae.  --ab Ogden Nash
			
